- after foiled bank armed robbery in Port Harcourt
The Police Headquarters, Abuja, this Friday, revealed the arrest of what the authority described as vicious armed robbers who specialized in bank robbery, as well as the recovery of catches of arms and ammunition, and arrest of a senior Bank Staff and security personnel attached to the Bank involved in the foiled armed robbery attack on Access Bank Branch in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
DCP Don N. Awunah, fsi, Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Force Headquarters, Abuja in a statement unveiled the list of suspects to include the following:
i. Samuel Ndudiri ‘M’ 28 years (staff of the Bank), a principal suspect and the master mind of the foiled armed robbery attack.
ii. Ex SGT Promise Ukwuoma ‘M’ a dismissed Policeman.
iii. Samuel Nwala ‘M’ 28 years
iv. Lucky Ukwuoma ‘M’26 years
v. Kaale Taagabah ‘M’ 27 years
Awunah also listed exhibits of items recovered as including:
i. Two (2) AK 47 Rifles and magazines fully loaded with Ammunition
ii. A welding machine
iii. Two (2) Gas cylinders and iron cutters
iv. A big Chisel
v. Cutting saw
vi. Hammer
vii. Acetylene gas power
Awunah narrated that on the 22nd December, 2016, the five (5) suspects mentioned above and other still at large stormed a Branch of Access Bank PLC in Port Harcourt, relying on information and active involvement of one of the staff of the Bank, the armed robbers successfully broke down the well-fortified security doors and barriers and took over the banking hall. They were almost pulling down the vault of the Bank and other strong rooms in the bank with use of gas cylinder welding machine and iron cutters before the joint Police Teams of IGP’S Intelligence Response Team and Policemen from Rivers state Police Command swiftly moved in and dislodged them, thereby foiled the armed robbery attack on the Bank and made a prompt arrest of three (3) of the suspects at the scene; namely Samuel Nwala ‘M’ 28 years, Lucky Ukwuoma ‘M’ 26 years, Kaale Taagabah ‘M’ 27 years.
The FPRO also disclosed that in the course of thorough investigation into the foiled armed robbery attack on the Bank, the principal suspect who is a staff of the Bank and the master mind of the armed robber attack, was subsequently arrested based on the confessional statements volunteered by the last three suspects arrested at the scene. He said that the arrest of the principal suspect led to the arrest of Ex SGT Promise Ukwuoma who participated actively in the armed robbery attack on the Bank, the two (2) AK 47 riffles and the ammunition were recovered from him. All the suspects have volunteered confessional and useful statements to the Police about the various criminal roles they played in the commission of the crime, Awunah said.
The Police said concerted efforts are being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large and bring them to justice; assuring that the case will be charged to court on completion of investigation.